From the other side of the fence.....

We(husband and me) started dancing at Arthur Murray, and we were student's for about 2 years.... We eventually decided that our interest was in competitive dance, and AM could not offer us what we wanted and moved on to an independent....

On the upside, we have only good things to say about AM... Our instructor was fairly new, and had not come from years of expereince, but she had the ablity to immediatley make us feel comfortable with this whole new expereince, and make it fun for us.... Had it not been for this instuctor I do not know that we would have continued on past the 7 lessons that we bought... (By the way, we have now been dancing for 15 years+)

AM foremost, is a social setting, and my advise to you is not to get to hung up on your lack of technique or training.... You will have some students that are there for the social aspect, and want to learn a lot of steps to dance socially... Then you will have some like us that will eventually leave to pursue other interests, but leave happy... What more can you ask for???

I dont envy you guys, there is so much more to dancing than dancing, and you have to figure out what each person really wants.... After all these years some has suggested that we begin to teach.... No way!!! I take being a student over an instructor any day.